Inflammation and immune responses play key roles in many chronic diseases and cancers. Sensitive and specific methods to visualize these processes in vivo are needed to improve disease characterization, enable early detection, and monitor treatment responses.

The Roivainen & Saraste Group develops novel molecular PET imaging methods and radiopharmaceuticals to visualize inflammation, immune cell activity, and tissue remodelling throughout the body. Our research focuses on targets such as vascular adhesion protein-1 (VAP-1), folate receptor-β (FR-β), and fibroblast activation protein-α (FAP-α), with the aim of improving the detection and characterization of disease-associated inflammation and supporting the development of more effective, personalized treatments.

Our research spans radiopharmaceutical development, preclinical evaluation, and clinical translation at the Turku PET Centre, which provides state-of-the-art infrastructure for molecular imaging research. We have already advanced to human studies with our VAP-1-targeted PET tracer [68Ga]Ga-DOTA-Siglec-9, demonstrating our commitment to translating innovative imaging approaches from the laboratory to clinical applications.

Figure 1. General development pipeline for PET-radiopharmaceuticals. The imaging agents will be evaluated in experimental models of inflammation, in healthy subjects and in patients. VAP-1 is abundantly expressed e.g. in synovial blood vessel in rheumatoid arthritis joints. The main hypothesis is that sensitive whole-body imaging of inflammation will enable early diagnosis, help in patient selection to particular therapy and monitor therapy outcome. Noteworthy, the development of new radiopharmaceuticals requires several years’ effort and expensive proof-of-concept and acute toxicity studies. Our research is focusing on PET tracers and to lesser extent magnetic resonance (MR) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging agents.

Our ultimate goal is to establish novel molecular imaging tools that improve our understanding of disease mechanisms, support treatment monitoring, and advance precision medicine.